The Anthropology of Magic Witchcraft and Religion Adaptation

The Anthropology of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion Adaptation and Change: How Religions are Born

Some Points to Consider • Religion helps people cope with the world – Incomprehensible – Changing • Religious systems are found in all cultures – Reflect cultural needs – Rooted in human experience

Cargo Cults “John Frum”

The Classic Model of Religious Origination REVITALIZATION MOVEMENTS

League of the Iroquois • Consisted of the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and (later) the Tuscarora nations • Each of these once warred and feuded with the others, and was at war with outside tribes • A vision led to the desire for more stability • Loose confederation – Each nation largely regulated their own internal affairs – All nations involved in external affairs (war, peace)

The Vision of Hiawatha • Hiawatha was depressed because he had lost his wife and family • Went to live in the forest, where he lived as a cannibal • Was visited by Dekanawidah, a god born of a virgin who had come across the lakes in a white stone canoe

The Vision of Hiawatha • Dekanawidah looked through the smoke hole of Hiawatha’s cabin • Hiawatha, peering into a pot of water, saw the god reflected in the water • Hiawatha thought he was seeing his own face, and thought: “That is not the face of a cannibal. ”

The Vision of Hiawatha • This thought was the start of his own regeneration (and that of the Iroquois) • Dekanawidah then revealed himself, and spoke to Hiawatha, who became his spokeman • Told Hiawatha that the Iroquois should prohibit feuds and unite

The Words of Dekanawidah “We bind ourselves together by taking hold of each other’s hands so firmly and forming a circle so strong that if a tree should fall upon it, it could not shake nor break it, so that our people and grandchildren shall remain in the circle in security, peace, and happiness. ”

Hiawatha’s Achievement • One by one, Hiawatha spoke to the tribes, persuading them to unite • They ultimately came to see themselves as members of one family, living in one longhouse • The League of the Iroquois endured until the American War of Independence

League of the Iroquois subdued and subjected the Indians living in what is now New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the north and west of Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, northern Tennessee, part of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan

Contact with Europeans • July 6, 1609, at Ticonderoga, 2 French soldiers with guns and 60 Hurons routed 200 Mohawk • The Iroquois then allied themselves with the Dutch (later the English)

Contact with Europeans • Iroquois were allied with the English during the socalled French and Indian Wars (1756 -1763) • English wished to continue this alliance during the American War of Independence • Colonists attempted to secure Iroquois’ neutrality

American War of Independence • During the debate about which side to take, the Oneida disagreed, and the unity of the League was broken • Every nation then decided for themselves • Treaty of Paris (1783) made no mention of the Indians

Contact with Americans • Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784) established the Iroquois reservations • Subsequent treaties left the Iroquois with ever smaller reservations, so that traditional life became impossible

Traditional Iroquois Life • Men hunted, traded, conducted diplomacy, fought wars • Women responsible for horticulture (especially corn) and domestic duties • Men were nomadic and women sedentary • Matrilineal and matrilocal, and women had many political responsibilities An Iroquois longhouse

Ganiodaio (“A Handsome Lake”) • Born as a Seneca in 1735 • Fought in some of the last forest wars • Changes meant that he was unable to continue the traditional male roles, and began to live “in idleness and dissipation”

Ganiodaio (“A Handsome Lake”) • Handsome Lake began to drink • Brooded on his life • One son died, another ignored him • Only his married daughter continued to care for him • Viewed his condition as a divine punishment

Handsome Lake’s First Vision • June 15, 1799 • Heard his name being called – Went outside of his house – Saw three angels, then collapsed • Angels told him he was not going to die yet

Handsome Lake’s First Vision • Should restore the Strawberry Festival • Told to preach a message against four evils: whiskey, witchcraft, magic, and abortion and sterility medicine • Told to personally renounce alcohol

Handsome Lake’s Second Vision • August 7, 1799 – the “sky journey” • Shown the realm of the “Punisher”, where he saw the fates of – – – – A drunkard A witch A wanton woman A wife-beater A quarrelsome couple A promiscuous woman A fiddler A group of card players

Handsome Lake’s Second Vision • Saw his own future dwelling • Told that the Iroquois must change their ways or be destroyed • Urged to restore unanimity to decision making

Religion of Handsome Lake • Followed by about ¼ of all contemporary Iroquois • Allows members to also be members of other churches • The religion itself was organized by those who came after Handsome Lake, who institutionalized the teachings

Revitalization Process Period of Revitalization Period of Cultural Distortion Steady State Period of Increased Individ ual Stress

The Steady State • Characterized by smooth functioning of social institutions and fulfillment of essentially all individual needs • Analogy: a top that is spinning smoothly, with no “wobbles”

Period of Increased Individual Stress • Increasing anomie in the social system • Increasing numbers of individuals perceive the sociocultural system as deficient in fulfilling their perceived needs

Period of Increased Individual Stress • In the absence of approved and functioning methods of need satisfaction, individuals increasingly turn to crime, asocial behavior, or exhibit various illnesses as responses • The system is “wobbling” slightly

Period of Cultural Distortion • If denial of individual needs continues, the asocial individual responses may become institutionalized • This increases the conflicting forces within the system

Period of Cultural Distortion • The “wobbles” in the system are now being amplified by the efforts than some individuals make to restore their own individual equilibrium • If the system becomes too distorted, it will typically be unable to return to the previous steady state

Period of Cultural Distortion • Likely outcomes include: – Sociocultural disintegration – Population extinction – Absorption of the group by another

Period of Revitalization • At any time, various individuals may be working on ways to restore the steady state • A plan to return from the “wobbling” state to a “nonwobbling” state • If the plans for doing so are deliberative, the movement is primarily political in nature

Period of Revitalization • If the plans for doing so are “received” spontaneously, the movement is primarily religious in nature • Spontaneous = through a “cognitive and affective restructuring” of an individual

Steps in Revitalization • The model must be formulated as a code (the plans for the “transfer culture”) • The code must be communicated • If others are attracted to the message, the movement becomes organized

Steps in Revitalization • The code must be adapted as new groups and factors are considered, and inconsistencies are discovered • If these steps succeed, the transfer culture may effect a cultural transformation

Steps in Revitalization • As the transfer culture becomes established, individual dissatisfaction (“wobbles”) may decrease • To assert itself in the face of the forces which helped disrupt the previous steady state, the movement becomes routinized

Steps in Revitalization • The movement now becomes routinized and institutionalized • It now becomes a conservative force in what is The New Steady State

It may even become… A new religion!